The Peach Keeper (26 page)

“Paxton,” Kirsty said, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“I noticed that the townhouse on Teal Street is still on the market.”

“Yes, it’s still on the market,” Kirsty said carefully.

“I want to buy it.”

Kirsty looked cautious, distrustful, which Paxton wasn’t expecting. “Are you sure this time?”

“Yes.”

Kirsty sighed and grabbed her keys. “Well, let’s go look at it,” she said with all the enthusiasm of a person going in for a colonoscopy.

They both got in Kirsty’s minivan. Paxton couldn’t remember the last time they’d been in the same car together. It might have been as long ago as high school, when Kirsty would borrow her father’s ancient Range Rover and they’d drive into Asheville on Saturdays. She missed that, being in the car with Kirsty, talking about everything. Before adulthood. Before there were so many things they didn’t want each other to know.

The townhouse was in a community called Waterview, a pretty green place with a common that had a gazebo and a fountain. The homes were red-brick colonial and beautiful. The townhouse Paxton had loved from the moment Kirsty showed it to her last year was in a cul-de-sac. Wisteria vines grew around the door, and Paxton remembered thinking how wonderful it would be to walk in and out in the springtime, when the wisteria would be in full bloom. It would be like walking through a wedding arch every day.

Kirsty unlocked the security box. Inside were cathedral ceilings and hardwood floors. Upstairs were three bedrooms. That had been one of the points of contention with her mother when Paxton had wanted to
move out last year, before she turned thirty. Her mother had insisted Paxton didn’t need so much room.

She thought about what Sebastian said about every life needing a little space, and how that leaves room for good things to enter it.

She wished she had thought of that to say to her mother at the time.

Paxton walked around the open living space. The cook’s kitchen off the living room was separated by a counter. She thought of how nice it would be to have friends over for dinner, idealizing things, of course, because the club members were married and that kind of girls’ night out didn’t seem to exist among them anymore. Or if it did, Paxton wasn’t included. If she had done this right out of college, maybe things would have been different, before all their lives got so complicated.

“It’s as beautiful as I remembered,” Paxton said.

Kirsty was standing by the front door. “I was counting on the commission from the sale of this place last year. When you decided not to buy it at the last minute, I was so upset with you.”

Startled, Paxton turned to her. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Kirsty shrugged.

“I’m sorry. We used to be able to tell each other anything. When did that change?”

“I don’t know.” Kirsty walked forward. “When you’re a teenager, your friends are your life. When you grow up, friendships seem to get pushed further and further
back, until it seems like a luxury, a frivolity, like a bubble bath.”

“You’re important to me, Kirsty,” Paxton said. “You always have been. For some reason I just stopped saying it, showing it.”

“Wow, Pax, this is a side of you I haven’t seen in a while. What brought this on?”

“With the gala coming up, I’ve been thinking about our grandmothers, about how their friendships lasted their whole lives. I always thought it would be like that for us.”

Kirsty looked a little sad. “Me, too.”

And that was it, Paxton supposed. The acknowledgment that things had changed but that no one was willing to do anything about it.

“Okay. I want this place,” Paxton said. “As quickly as possible. I’m making an offer today.”

“Paxton, come here,” her mother called from the living room as soon as Paxton got in. When Paxton entered, her mother and father were sitting on the couch, watching the evening news.

“Your dress was brought back today,” Sophia said, indicating the large white box on the corner chair. “Be sure to try it on in case there are some last-minute alterations. I think you and your daddy and I should all go together, particularly since you don’t have a date.”

Paxton walked over to the box and opened it, still feeling a little of that thrill she used to have at the thought of party dresses, the fantasy of it all. She
smiled when she saw the shimmering pink material, the sparkling jewels at the neckline.

“I have to be there early, so I’m driving myself.” She put the lid back on the box. “Mama, when did you move out of your parents’ house?”

Sophia turned away from the television. “After college. I moved in with a few of my girlfriends. I was with them for about two years before I started dating your daddy. It was one of the best times of my life. When Donald asked me to marry him, I was thrilled, of course, but a little sad, too. It meant leaving my friends behind.”

Paxton saw her father turn his head to look at Sophia when she said that.

“Why?” Paxton asked. “Couldn’t you have still been friends?”

“Surely you know this, Paxton. You make a choice. You’re not as close to your married friends as you once were, are you?”

“No,” she said. “But I think that’s like saying I’m sorry I left the water on and flooded the house. At some point, you could have turned it off. It’s not like it had to happen.”

Sophia suddenly frowned. “Why are you asking these things?”

Paxton picked up the dress box and walked over to her mother. “Because I’m moving out.”

Sophia waved that away with a flick of her wrist. “Oh, Paxton, we went over this last year. You’re much better off here. You don’t need a place of your own when Hickory Cottage has so much room.”

“I’ve waited too long. I’ve put it off too long. You moved out right after college. All my friends did, too. I need to do this.” She took a deep breath. “I put in an offer on a townhouse this afternoon.”

When it finally dawned on her that Paxton was serious, Sophia said, “Paxton! You didn’t!”

“Yes, I did. You can come see me any time you want. And I’ll visit you here. But I’m decorating how I want to decorate. And I’m not giving you a set of keys. I’m thirty years old, Mama. I think you’ve forgotten.”

“Donald!” Sophia said. “Say something.”

Her father turned to her, with a sparkle she hadn’t seen in a while. “Would you like a down payment as a housewarming gift?”

That made Paxton smile. “No thanks, Daddy.”

“Donald!”

“She’s leaving, Sophia. Maybe it’s time to try to work on just being you and me for a while.”

As Paxton left, Sophia was looking at her husband as if he’d just come back from a very, very long trip—and she wasn’t sure whether she was glad to see him or not.

When Paxton got to the pool house, she picked up the phone and called Willa. She wasn’t even sure why.

“Hello?”

Paxton hesitated a moment. “Hi. It’s Paxton.”

“It’s your sister,” Willa said.

“Colin is there?”

“Yes. Do you want to talk to him?” Willa was in a good mood. Paxton could hear it in her voice.

“No, I want to talk to you. But I’ll call back when you’re not busy,” Paxton rushed to say.

“Don’t be silly.” Paxton heard the squeak of a screen door, then the pop as it closed. “Now I’m outside,” Willa said. “Your brother is trying to figure out my father’s coffee percolator. He says it should be in a museum.”

Paxton picked up the dress box she’d left on the couch and took it to her room. “He drinks too much caffeine.”

“I know. I bought him decaf.”

“I noticed today that you still haven’t RSVPed for the gala. Will you come? Please? I won’t make you accept something on your grandmother’s behalf. I’d just like you to be there. And if Colin hasn’t asked you yet, be prepared, he’s about to.” Paxton took the pink sheath dress out of the box and put it on a padded hanger, then hung it on the closet door. “I think I’ve even managed to convince Nana Osgood to come. After all she told us, I think she’s coming just to see what a mockery this generation has made of the club.”

“What’s wrong, Pax?” Willa asked, and Paxton realized it was the first time she’d used the shortened version of her name. “You sound melancholy.”

“Not melancholy. Conflicted, I guess.” Paxton sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the dress. “I decided to buy a house today. I’m going to move out of Hickory Cottage.”

“That’s great! Do you need help moving?”

“Actually, I don’t have much to move. I’m going to have to buy a lot of stuff. I don’t even have a bed that’s
mine. I’m going to carve out some time to go take measurements tomorrow.” She paused. “Do you want to come see the place?”

“I’d love to,” Willa said immediately.

“Don’t tell Colin yet. I’ll tell him when he gets here. He’s going to gloat.” Paxton leaned forward, an elbow on her knee, her head in her hand. “I’m a little scared, Willa,” she said softly, as though she was afraid to even say it.

She heard another creak, as if Willa had just sat down. “Happiness is a risk. If you’re not a little scared, then you’re not doing it right.”

Paxton was silent, letting that sink in.

“Are you going to the gala with Sebastian?” Willa finally asked.

“He hasn’t mentioned it. I think I’ll be going alone. And that’s okay. I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“It doesn’t feel the same with him. It doesn’t feel the same without him. Nothing is really broke, so it’s not like I can fix it. I just have to keep trying to find what I’m looking for.”

“You’ll find it,” Willa said.

“I hope so.”

“I’m here if you need me.”

That, ultimately, was why she called. She needed to hear that. “Thanks, Willa.”

SIXTEEN
Shedding the Armor

“D
r. Rogers will see you now,” the receptionist said to Willa. “His private office is around the corner.”

It had been a long shot, and Willa had waited almost an hour, but now she was finally going to talk to Sebastian. “Thank you,” she said, entering the inner sanctum and trying not to look into rooms where the whirring and swishing noises were coming from. It made her queasy. She’d always hated dentists’ offices.

She entered Sebastian’s personal office, but he wasn’t there. She took one of the two seats in front of his desk and looked around. It was nice but utilitarian. It didn’t look as though he spent a lot of time here. There was only one photograph on his desk. When she turned the frame around, she saw it was a photograph
of him and Paxton, one where they’d held the camera in front of them and grinned as they snapped the shot.

She heard Sebastian’s voice in the hall and quickly turned the photo back around. Sebastian entered and smiled at her. He didn’t have on his suit jacket, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up. He was so strangely beautiful. He hid it behind a lot of makeup in high school, but he seemed to have come to terms with it now. She was staring at him, but she realized he was probably used to it.

“You’ve done a nice job with the office,” Willa finally said. “It doesn’t look anything like I remember Dr. Kostovo’s office.”

He walked behind the desk and sat. “You mean it doesn’t look like a medieval torture chamber anymore.”

“Yes,” she said, shuddering. “Who does that? In a dentist’s office? As if half the patients aren’t scared enough already.”